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Hi All. I kind of got lost in this thread and i was hoping someone could help me. i am looking for a table insert for my ts3650 for a dado blade. i tried a zero clearence one from Lee Valley but it only works for the salightlu older modles. does anyone know if and where i can get one for the ts3650?

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Can I ask another dado question. Can you use just a 2 wing chipper for a dado cut. I needed a 3/16 dado even thought the board sold as 1/4 it wasnt.My freud dado set doesnt have a combo of two to make it but one chipper would of worked.

Thanks

A think kerf tablesaw blade is standard 3/32" wide. You just need to make a cut using your TK blade, then shift the material by 3/32" and make another cut precisely adjacent to the first. Two-pass dado without using a dado set.

Two side-by-side cuts is 3/32 + 3/32 = 6/32 = 3/16"

PS- Make sure you have a thin kerf blade. A full kerf blade is 1/8" and you'll wind up with the 1/4" dado you dont' want!

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A think kerf tablesaw blade is standard 3/32" wide. You just need to make a cut using your TK blade, then shift the material by 3/32" and make another cut precisely adjacent to the first. Two-pass dado without using a dado set.

Two side-by-side cuts is 3/32 + 3/32 = 6/32 = 3/16"

PS- Make sure you have a thin kerf blade. A full kerf blade is 1/8" and you'll wind up with the 1/4" dado you dont' want!

It's worth noting that the widths given by Wood Junkie are the norm for most "TKs" and full kerfs, but both can vary a bit, as there's no real standard. For a 10" blade, TK's can swing from ~ 0.090" to ~ 0.111", while full kerfs go from ~ 0.118" to 0.145".

I bought it and had another 15% off coupon so I netted out about $17. I do not have any current plans for a dado set, but for $17 I thought I would give it a try. I will set up my 3650 with the dado blades, run a board through it and report back on the results. If I get a clean cut with little vibration, I will be happy. If I don't like the set, HF will refund my purchase.

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Here is an image of the cut I made with the $17 HF Dado Set. I have never owned a Dado Set so I will just post my observations.

Before installing the blades, I wiped off the protective oil so that I would not have a problem with the blades shifting while making the cut. When I installed the full set of blades I found that there was no room for the thick flat washer. I hand tightened the nut and then used the wrenches to tighten the blades. While tightening I could feel resistance, but at the same time blade #1 was still slightly wobbly. I kept tightening, heard a bit of a pop when all the blades settled in to place, and then finished tightening the set. I must have not pushed all the blades and spacers tightly up to the back washer on the arbor shaft.

I turned on the 3650 and did not notice any unusual sounds or vibrations. I then made the ZCI for the full set. After finishing the ZCI I set the blade depth and made a pass through a scrap piece of pine. As you can see from the picture, the sides of the cut are very clean. But, it is obvious that the Dado blades are not all the same exact diameter. This resulted in ridges that are about .005" to .010" in height, by my estimation. Before taking the picture, I rotated the piece so the early morning sun would make each ridge cast a shadow so the ridges could be easily seen. This makes the ridges in the picture appear slightly deeper than they really are.

I have never owned or seen a Dado Set in action so I have no frame of reference to gauge my results with. I was expecting a groove that resembled one made by a router with a perfectly smooth bottom. Maybe one of the more experienced forum members can fill me on what kind of results I should expect.
-Ike

Attached Files

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Hmmm. sure looks like varying diameters. Maybe double check to make sure that neither the outside blades or chippers are cocked which would result in varying height(I think). Or maybe, check the hole to see if some of them have a burr. What about looking at the shims. Maybe a few of them got hung up on the arbor threads and were forced under(pop) the blades/chippers. Just some thoughts??

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With the poorer quality dado sets, you will get a ridge, particularly on the outer blades. This is because the outer cutters are ground as a crosscut blade, (alternating tooth bevel or all teeth are beveled to the outside) and the chippers are usually flat ground. Looking at the picture, it appears the chipper you have in the center is slightly larger than the others, or you made two passes .

The outer cutters require a crosscut (ie pointed tooth) profile to get a clean corner cutting through the wood fiber. It costs more to add a tooth that is flat ground to produce a truly square cut. The chippers are usually just flat ground to give the square bottom.

A couple things to consider: End grain glue does not give a lot of strength, so if the bottom is not perfectly flat, it will not seriously weaken the glue joint if you use ply or hardwood. If you are using MDF, all surfaces are the same, so it does weaken the joint more. It can be cleaned up with a sharp chisel very easily if you want it flat (which I did for years 'til I lucked out on a good Freud set for a good price). However, if you are working with solid wood, and the ends of the dado are going to show (no face covering or edge treatment, as in a hardwood bookcase, etc) than the truly flat bottom will greatly improve the looks of the work.

So, an expensive set will give you that true flat cut, but there are workarounds.

Vegas Guy: The "popping" sound you heard was probably a shim caught down in a thread of the arbor that snapped up into place. Shims can make it hard to get the blades snug. Make sure you alternate all the teeth to the point where the edge of the teeth on the chippers and outer blades clear each other. The teeth on all the blades/chippers are wider than the base metal, so they need to have clearance for side-to-side movement as you tighten them. If they hit each other, not only will the blades not be straight, you risk damaging the teeth as you tighten the stack.

And, no, you do not use the shoulder washer with a full 3/4" dado stack on most saws. Hidden in the instruction manual for the 3650 is this little tidbit. The purpose of the shoulder washer is to stabilize the blade and ensure the nut does not bottom out. With a dado stack, the multiple blades provide more stabilization than the washer, and their combined width ensures that the nut will not bottom out. A good rule of thumb for any nut is that you should have at least two full threads showing when the nut is tight. Otherwise, it is not fully engaging all the threads due to the tapered end that helps when threading it on.

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Ike - Thanks for posting those pics. I'd never used the HF dado set and wasn't sure what to expect.

The cut in that pic looks pretty rough on the bottom and end, and doesn't appear to be caused by the operator. Usually digi-pics mask fine details and the ridges show easily. Not meaning to slam your dado set, but gotta call a spade a spade...I'm glad you didn't pay more for it. It's likely that you've done a service to several members here. The dados are probably functional, but will need some cleaning up with a chisel for any exposed views of the end. I can say that the cuts from my SD208 and DW7670 do look cleaner based on that pic...there are some good HF gems to be had, but in this case it looks like you get what you pay for. Even at $17, I thnk I'd consider returning it.

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To Gofor and heywood: You are correct about the popping sound being the shims and that I got what I paid for. I am definitely returning the set. The thought of having to manually clean up the bottom of the slot is not acceptable.

Before checking in the forum this morning I ran another test. I removed the dado set and discovered I had indeed gotten the shims caught in the threads. I have included a pic showing how the threads gave the shims a trim job.

To eliminate operator error, I reinstalled the dado set without any shims. I have been very careful to make sure I am offsetting the blades so the teeth do not touch. I made another slot and, frankly, could not see any difference between this test and the first one. Both slots are grooved. Plus, there is a definite arc to the bottom of the slot. See attached images.

The last image is the packaging of the dado set. Notice the phrase "Produces perfect Flat-Bottom cuts."

I will return this set and bring along the board I used to make the test cuts. I seriously doubt I will get a different result with another set. Trying a different set depends upon whether they say they have never seen this before and I should not have this problem. If I do get another set that lives up to its billing, I will post the information here. Otherwise, assume their sets all give the same results.

I would be interested in someone with a good dado set posting a pic to serve as reference as to what a good set is capable of producing.
-Ike

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To get a perfectly flat groove bottom, all the blades (both the outside blades and the chippers) must be the exact same diameter. It is obviously not the case with these sets, as you can see in the pictures.